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Prompto refused to go back to the apartment.
Miraculously, whatever powers that be had apparently deemed that his suffering had been enough for now, and granted him the small blessing of Willabee being removed from the house the very next morning. The cat was whisked away by a younger woman, with many ‘thanks’ and ‘until next times’ given, and the house grew still save for the muffled droning of the television in the other room.
He still had plenty to do, tons of preparations to make, and he could get pretty much all of the things he would need here. There was no need for him to return to Noct’s apartment.
Except for his small collection of items from his parents, his spare clothes and riding gear, he couldn’t leave without them, but he could race up and grab what he needed from his den just before he began the climb.
The less time spent near that place the better as far as he was concerned. Especially now that Specs knew he was still around.
Not for the first time, he found himself cursing that stupid choice. Even if a tiny, hesitant voice liked to pipe up in the back of his head and say ‘well he didn’t technically try and hurt us at all’ every time his thoughts turned to the day before.
He couldn’t believe he was still even having thoughts like that. But it didn’t matter, he would never be seeing those beans again.
Shaking himself, he continued pulling out the contents of a newly borrowed teabag, tearing the papery pouch into lengths and wrapping up handfuls of the dried leaves in them. Tea was great for colds, especially when mixed up with a few other things like it said in his mother’s battered old recipe book, and knowing his luck he was bound to get sick while he traveled.
Besides, having a small stash of the bare essentials would tide him over while he settled into his new home, wherever that was.
When the last bundle he feasibly thought he could carry was tied, he gathered them up into his arms. He felt a pang of guilt at leaving well over half of the bag behind, torn open for the bugs to carry off, but he was pushing it taking this much already.
He only had one large backpack that had belonged to his father, and a few of his own hand stitched shoulder bags, though their craftsmanship was nowhere near that of the former. He hadn’t had the time to teach him properly.
He dropped off the parcels alongside the rest of his borrowings: his crumbled up biscuit and, his latest additions, a sliver from the bar of hand soap in the bathroom, and three empty pill cases filled as high as possible with water.
Thank gods for the old lady and her medications. He had seen her pull open the little red pill casings to drop the powder within into her glasses of juice each morning, and while she may not have needed the empty husks, they served him perfectly well.
Once the bundles were carefully stacked beside the rest of the supplies, he covered them all back up with a tissue he had also taken from the bathroom, tucking the edges all around his little stockpile. It wouldn’t do to have his stash demolished by insects before he could even get it properly packed in his bag.
It would be a tight fit, and the pack would be heavy to haul, especially with such an immense climb ahead of him. He might have made it to ground level in two days if he was going barehanded, but now he was rapidly estimating anywhere from five days to a full week.
Just to get back down to the ground. Gods he wished his sparrow had come.
But that wasn’t going to happen, and he was out of time. Heaving himself to his feet, he slipped back through the walls for the next item on his mental checklist.
~~~~~~~~~~
Two days later, and Prompto knew he had everything he would need. He would never feel ready, gods he hadn’t the first time he had moved either, but he knew he had to.
With a deep inhale of dusty air, he let his mind turn upwards to the last, daunting task he had. Returning to his den one last time to pick up his belongings.
Luckily, it was a Tuesday, which meant Noct would be away at school. And by the time he or any other bean returned, he would be long gone.
He released his held breath. This was the last time. Just once more, and then he would never have to deal with these beans again.
Yet, just to be safe, he still waited until midday before he made his move.
The climb up felt like it dragged on into an eternity yet still it flew by far too fast when he heaved himself the last of the way up and stood within the familiar corridor of the inner kitchen wall. The apartment beyond was silent, as it always was on weekdays.
Prompto wrapped his arms around his middle, his brows furrowing as a wave of sadness swept through him. He was going to miss this place. Not many borrowers could say they had lived in such a luxurious home, let alone had access to so much quality food and items ripe for borrowing. Or a TV, though that had proven to be a huge mistake.
He forced himself down the familiar path, eyes unfocused as he recalled just how much time he had spent here, almost a year in fact.
To think he had gone unnoticed for that long. It was telling that he had only grown ballsy, or perhaps overwhelmingly bored, enough to venture out and watch the TV a couple of months ago.
How swiftly that brazenness had brought him to this end.
Prompto sniffed, squeezing his eyes closed as they began to itch. He didn’t deserve to cry over this, not when it was all his fault. Sucking in another low breath, he pulled the tin wall aside from his once home and got to work.
He pulled his father’s emptied and stowed backpack from the bottom of his old biscuit tin, dusting it down before unbuttoning the top flap. Slowly, he began to pull out his spare sets of clothes, folding, rolling and shoving them right down into the bottom of the bag.
Some of them he had made himself, but no matter how much he tried, his never looked anywhere as clean as his mother’s stitching always had. Most of the clothes he had were actually once his father’s, and they hung off his lean frame far too much if he didn’t tie and tuck them in places.
Then there was his riding gear. Tough yet lightweight, and incredibly hard for just any borrower to come by, this stuff was made out of leather for Astrals sake, and thin, dark wool that kept out the chill of the wind when flying. Precious and hard to come by materials that were hard to fashion on top of that.
There was no gods damn way he was leaving without it, even if it took up way too much space in the pack and his useless bird had abandoned him anyway.
Prompto sighed harshly, rocking back on his knees and digging his knuckles into his itching eyes. He knew it wasn’t his errant sparrow’s fault, he had likely just gone on living his life outside of him. It was his fault for not keeping up regular rides and reaffirmations of their bond.
It was all his fault .
There was a bang from the opposite side of the wall and before he knew it he had shot to the far side of his den, back pressed to the rough plaster as his chest heaved.
They weren’t supposed to be home. What the hell were they doing home?
“Keep it down you fucking idiot,” snarled a bean he had never heard in his life.
Prompto’s heart slid down into his boots.
“There ain’t gonna be no one here for a couple hours yet, calm your tits, been watching this brat long enough to know when him and his pet servant gone be home by now,” another, even rougher voice grumbled.
“You’re sure the cameras are down?”
“For the last fuckin’ time, yes, we got about eight minutes so let’s just fuckin’ get it done.”
‘No gods damned way,’ Prompto thought miserably. These jackasses were really breaking into the damn apartment, they couldn’t have waited one more fucking day? The gods weren’t just laughing at him, they were bent over and breathless as they watched his life unfold.
Prompto swallowed tightly, inching his way along the wall until he was at the still ajar doorway to his home, ready to bolt. Logically, he knew they had absolutely no idea he was here, but that didn’t stop his lungs from fluttering at every scrape and bump they made as they moved deeper into the apartment.
It was fine, he would just slip out to be on the safe side and come back once they were done taking whatever it was they were after. Eight minutes if the thing with the cameras was true. Not that long to wait just to be completely safe.
Sucked to be Noct but then, he had wanted to keep him trapped under a bowl so, he really didn’t feel that much sympathy.
“You know how to set that thing up?”
“It’s already rigged, just gotta set it and forget it, least until the news headlines tonight.”
Prompto froze, straining to continue listening while his mind was busy racing in circles like a bird after a stubborn insect.
“Not like we’ll miss it,” the more nasally of the two grunted, “they’ll be scraping that brat off the walls of the next building over.”
Prompto didn’t even realise his heart had begun hammering in his chest until he physically began to hear it thrumming between his ears. Thoughtlessly, he began to move, like someone had fiddled around in his head and flicked his body on autopilot. Before he even had the chance to catch up he found himself racing down the tight corridors, the familiar dark now deep and ominous, like he was wading through the dust beneath that couch all over again.
He shot up the cables faster than he thought he had ever done before, practically launching himself into the roof as the words of the strangers grew too muffled to make out.
‘It can’t be,’ he thought feverishly, sprinting for the loose light fitting, ‘ it can’t be .’
He could hear their muted, rumbling voices like distant thunder beneath him, too muffled to make out the words, and he practically yanked the fitting out of its hole so he could listen in once more.
“-careful with it! It’s pressure activated, it might not be enabled yet but I sure as shit don’t wanna test it.”
Prompto grit his teeth, swallowing down the swell of fear bubbling in his chest like a thick, sticky tar, and slipped through into the bowl of the light. He had to see it. He knew he had to see it with his own eyes to confirm what his roiling gut already knew was true.
Inching his way up the edge of the cold ceramic, he sucked in a deep breath, fingers tightening on the lip, before he pulled himself up and peeked over the edge.
The two men were roughly dressed, their clothes dark in a way he intrinsically recognized as those of someone who didn’t wish to be noticed.They were huddled together behind the couch, heads bent downwards as they growled and snapped at each other. And then, before his very eyes, the larger of the two produced a dark, rectangular package from the duffel bag at his side.
And yep, that was a bomb.
“How do you activate it?” The shorter, nasally one asked.
“Just gotta mess with the wires a bit and input the activation code,” the larger grunted, already fiddling with the device, “get down there and make sure there’s enough space under the couch.”
The shorter man grumbled something unsavory under his breath but did what he was told, huffing an affirmative a few moments later.
“What happens if he ain’t heavy enough to set it off though?”
“You think I hadn’t thought of that you idiot? Not like I could come up here and take fucking measurements, there’s a backup trigger installed, if it doesn’t get set off by something hitting it it’s set to blow in around six hours anyway.”
The shorter one made a nasty snickering sound, the mask covering his lower face shifting and stretching with the movement of his bony jaw.
“Guess you thought of everything.”
The larger snorted, his beady eyes glimmering snakelike in their deeply wrinkled sockets.
“No room for half measures when you’re killin’ royals.”
Prompto struggled to keep his breathing under control, sliding achingly slowly back down into the pit of the bowl. They had a bomb. They were putting a bomb under the couch.
A bomb that was meant for Noct .
That was… oh gods that was awful. He had to warn him somehow, he had to-
What the fuck was he even thinking?
He had to get the hell out of here before that damn thing went off, he was only here to grab his stuff and go anyway. What did he care if these beans got blown sky high? They had almost killed him for Astral’s sake.
Well, ok that wasn’t technically…
Specs’ voice drifted through the back of his mind, repeating those words he would never believe once again.
“We aren’t going to hurt you.”
That was... technically true. If he didn’t count the bruising and the ten years at least shaved off his life.
He bit into his lip hard enough to sting, squeezing his eyes shut and straining to ignore the two beans below him. This was bad. This was really, really bad. There was no way he could do this, he couldn’t-
“All set.”
“Great, clear up and let’s get the fuck out of here, I don’t wanna be around when that shit blows this entire floor out.”
He couldn’t- he couldn’t reveal himself to those humans again. He’d lucked out getting away once, and all on the mercy of a human who he had then yelled at and pissed off on before he could even see the consequences. To show himself now, when he was so close to escaping entirely, was absolute madness.
He wouldn’t be that lucky again.
He heard the two intruders packing up and retreating as though he was underwater. As though, once again, he was trapped beneath that bowl, where sounds echoed strangely and the weight of his life was a snare tightening around his neck.
He left now and guaranteed his own life, Noct and potentially Specs died.
He revealed himself to Noct, he potentially lost his freedom. And that was a best case scenario. Worst would see him the one dead.
‘Oh gods, oh gods , what do I do?’ he thought over and over again, like a shitty, pitiful song stuck on repeat.
He heard the dull slam of the front door, the jingle of the lock bouncing strangely down the short (to a human) front hall, and then nothing. Nothing but the sounds of the city going about its daily business, blissfully unaware that there was a bomb lying in wait for their Prince to come home to.
Whatever the hell a Prince was, he still had no goddamn idea.
The minutes ticked by, but it felt like he was in a daze, like the fuzziness that came from a deep sickness. He almost felt like he was going to be sick.
Silently, always silently, he climbed back up into the roof, stumbled halfway back to the cabling he had climbed up before he realised he hadn’t refitted the light fixture and scrambled back. When he made it back to the bottom of the cables he didn’t let go for a long couple of moments, fingernails digging into the hard rubber.
With a shaky breath, he forced himself to let go, trudging back to his barren, dusty little den and slumping heavily down next to his half packed bag, back against the still open biscuit tin.
He felt like he was asking this a lot lately, but what the actual hell did he do now?
The snarling, virulent words that had dripped from the lips of those two beans rattled around his brain as though trapped in an echo chamber, every time he thought he had come to terms with everything he had heard and seen another detail would leap out to remind him of its existence.
Pressure activated, like stepping on spider’s silk. He found he’d much rather a spider than a raging inferno blasting him and everything around him to ash instantly. They clearly knew Noct practically lived off his couch, if he wasn’t in his bed, and dropping like a sack of bricks on to the cushions was usually the first thing he did when he got home from school.
Prompto stared in horror at the dim, dusty wall before him, realising exactly what this all meant.
He only had around two hours to make a decision before Noct got home.
“Oh gods,” Prompto breathed, and he found there really wasn’t anything else he could say on it.
~~~~~~~~~~
The obvious answer was: he couldn’t just let an innocent person die when there was something he could do to stop it.
The obvious problem was: he couldn’t actually warn Noct without revealing himself to the human.
The thought to hide in the living room light as he had when he had spoken with Specs did hit him, but given how close that was to the couch… yeah not exactly a risk he was willing to take. Especially given he would half expect Noct to try and reach him where he had been at least partially sure that Specs wouldn’t. And if he climbed on to the couch trying to do it then it was game over for the both of them.
Prompto paced back and forth across his tiny home, arms wrapped tight around his middle as he racked his brains. But for every idea he had an obstacle sprung up to stop it before it could even take off.
He could leave a note? Aside from the fact that he had neither the materials nor the time to gather them, he hadn’t exactly kept up with the reading and writing lessons his parents had once taught him. The coveted collection of tiny books they had gathered from fellow borrowers too cumbersome for him to take with him when he had left his childhood home. Besides, a note his size wasn’t even likely to be noticed by Noct before he beelined for the couch.
Ok, so maybe another high place to warn him from. Unfortunately, most of the high places in the house, unreachable by humans, were equally unreachable by a borrower. Shocking that.
He perked up for a moment at the idea of scaling the back of the fridge, only to recall he had tried that once before and had no luck. Besides, being up there might have kept him out of reach initially, but Noct would only have to walk two steps away to grab a chair from the kitchen table and it would be rendered useless. And he had no idea if he would be able to safely slip back behind it before he made it up. Humans were shockingly fast when they needed to be.
Calling from inside the wall was out, chances were he wouldn’t be able to hear him and even doing it from behind the loose tile would potentially muffle him too much. Or worse, Noct could pinpoint where he was and he would have no idea until it was too late, after all he must have known from that damn camera that he used the loose tile as a doorway.
Speaking of that gods forsaken camera, Prompto was actually cursing the fact that it was gone. It had only needed to stay for a couple more days and it would have captured those two strangers, and then he wouldn’t even be in this fucking situation now would he?
Prompto ground his teeth, dragging his hands through his hair and down his face, frustration, despair, and a week’s worth of stress boiling in his gut. Gods he just wanted this all to be over. He just wanted to leave.
Reverberating softly through the walls around him, came the sound of the apartment’s front door opening.
Prompto stiffened mid stride like a rabbit under a search light. There was no way it had been that long already, no way Noct was home already.
“Yeah, yeah Specs,” Noct grumbled irritably, muted through the plaster, “I’ll do it so drop it already, I’ll meet you there tomorrow.”
Prompto hissed a curse under his breath, snatching up one of his two pins and stabbing it roughly through a loose fold of his shirt as he jammed himself through the still pushed aside walls of his den.
Oh dear gods he had to do something.
His heart thundered against his ribs, the breath forced out his lungs with every step as he sprinted the short distance to the slim corridor he had carved through the plaster, crawling down it to where the light of the apartment beyond sliced around the edges of the kitchen tile he had scratched out.
He all but skidded to a halt just before he could shove it straight out to the bench below.
What the fuck was he thinking? Noct was literally right there, he was about to get himself fucking captured all over again.
He wouldn’t be so lucky a second time.
“Yes Ignis, I’m- ugh, goodnight Specs,” Noct huffed, before presumably ending the phone call. Looked like Specs wasn’t coming around tonight, he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing given what he was seriously about to do.
Prompto clenched and released his hands a couple of times, trying to encourage the numbness in his fingertips to go away, before slowly, achingly slowly, sliding the tile slightly to the side so he could chance a peek out.
Noct’s back was to him, the dark material of his school jacket rumpled where he leant against the kitchen table, attention down on his phone and his satchel-style school bag still in hand. Good, he hadn’t moved to drop it, or himself, on the couch yet. He still had time.
Hesitantly, he pushed the tile forwards, keeping a death grip on the sides so it couldn’t slip from his grip and clatter to the bench below. He lowered it down the short drop to the marble, propping it against the wall like it was the most breakable thing in the world. His gaze never strayed from the towering bean across the kitchen, but Noct didn’t even twitch at the goings on behind him.
Forcing his breathing to remain under control, he slipped silently out of the gap and quickly slid the tile back into place, flinching when the stone scraped. He whipped his head around, panic clawing at the inside of his chest, but Noct didn’t seem to have noticed, back still turned to him and his focus down on his phone.
Prompto swallowed hard, trying to make his shoulders quit shaking by sheer force of will, but when that failed he settled for making his legs move, stumbling behind the closest source of cover, being the sleek looking toaster.
He pressed his back tight to the cool, black plastic, wondering how the bean couldn’t hear his heart when it practically roared like a furious beast in his own ears. He swallowed again.
He was going to do this. He had to do this. Oh gods was he actually going to do this?
Steeling himself, he risked a peek around the edge of his hiding place. And promptly seized when he found that Noct had disappeared.
He glanced about feverishly, as much as he could whilst still behind the toaster, spotting the giant, dark shape of the human shuffling deeper into the room, gaze still riveted on his phone. He was headed for the couch.
Prompto’s chest seized. He had to move, he had to. If Noct so much as leant on that couch wrong they were both dead. He had to do this.
He tensed, scraping up every last ounce of willpower he had left to just open his mouth already. Just get it over with. He did this or he died.
He did this or they both died .
He started to move, every breath sliding like oil into his lungs. Noct made a noise of discontent, attention finally pulled from his phone, and haphazardly slung his school bag on to the coffee table with a sharp ‘thump’. Prompto jerked back, the impressive centimeter of distance he had made disappearing, gritting his jaw hard enough to ache.
Oh gods he couldn’t do this. Not again. Gods he couldn’t-
Prompto glanced back up just in time to see Noct making to flop across the couch and he shot forward like an earwig had nipped his ass.
“STOP!”
The word had shot from his throat before his hand could clap over his mouth to catch it.
Noct’s giant form froze, only for the barest of moments, before his head snapped around to pin his gaze directly on where he stood.
Prompto gasped, terror shooting to grip his throat. He stumbled blindly backwards, yelping when his foot snagged on the cord of the toaster and he tumbled on to his ass.
“Holy shit,” Noct breathed, the excitement in his voice sending shivers up his spine.
Prompto’s eyes shot upwards, his breath hitching when he found the human hurriedly striding closer, tremors arching through his tiny body with each heavy step. Prompto swallowed harshly, his heart making a solid attempt at leaving him out through his mouth. Ok, he had his attention then… fuck, why had he done this again?
A dark package, rough hands and rougher voices jackhammered through the front of his mind. Oh yeah.
“I can’t believe it-“
“Please,” Prompto whimpered, skittering backwards until his back hit the cool tile, unable to tear his gaze from the giant drawing nearer and nearer, “d-don’t-“
To his utter shock, Noct stopped in his tracks, still a good distance from the kitchen bench. His eyes burned with an eagerness that spoke of his desire to come closer still, but he seemed to rein it back and remained where he was.
“It’s ok,” he said gently, slowly raising his hands in a placating gesture, “I won’t come any closer unless you say so, alright?”
Prompto felt himself nod shakily, his tongue leaden in his mouth. He balled his hands into fists against the polished marble, willing them to stop shaking.
Noct gave a slow, wary nod back, as though he was just as nervous as he was. As ridiculous as that notion was.
“I can’t believe you’re still here,” he said finally, voice thick with awe.
Prompto winced. Neither could he.
“I- d-don’t,” he stammered intelligently, cursing himself for not just spitting it out already, but his tongue just would not work with him.
Noct tilted his head slightly, hesitantly lowering his arms back down to his sides. He shifted on his feet, apparently not knowing what to do with himself, but incredibly keeping his word and not drawing any closer. Though his eyes remained riveted on him, raking over him like he meant to burn every inch of him into his memory. Prompto felt stripped bare, narrowly clinging to the last threads of bravery keeping him from just bolting.
“Wow,” Noct murmured.
Prompto’s shoulders jumped at the sudden return of sound. He braced himself before forcing his gaze upwards to fully meet the beans own, far larger one. He almost instantly regretted it when he found that by now familiar, burning curiosity staring right back at him, his stomach physically recoiling at the sight.
Curiosity in humans was only ever bad. What was he even curious about? What did he want to do with him?
“What?” he heard himself squeak out.
“You’re just… so small.”
Prompto scuffed his feet against the marble, looking away and gauging his chances of making it back through the loose tile before Noct could make it over. He cursed himself for replacing it earlier, that would slow him down.
“I can’t help it,” he mumbled weakly.
“Uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to be insulting or, uh-” Noct cut himself off, something nervous in his eyes.
Prompto blinked slowly in bemusement. Noct swallowed, cleared his throat and apparently decided to try a different approach.
“Are you, um, ok? I mean after the whole… thing, last week?”
Prompto nodded jerkily, very aware of the dull ache in his middle that his faded bruising was still causing him.
Noct seemed to sag with relief, a small, hesitant smile pulling up the corners of his lips.
“I’m really glad you’re alright, I thought you were gone for sure, I mean, I’m really glad you’re not, but I never thought you’d come and talk to us after-“
Prompto swallowed tightly, struggling not to grip the end of his pin on instinct.
“I’m leaving,” he interrupted, oddly proud when his voice didn’t quiver.
“What? Why?” Noct said sharply, genuinely startled. Prompto blinked up at him in bewilderment.
“Why?” He repeated in disbelief, “I can’t st-stay here, beans aren’t supposed to- to know about us, I shouldn’t even be talking to you right now...”
“Why not?” Noct said, shifting like he wanted to move closer but curbing it at the last moment.
Prompto blinked again, slower.
“What?”
“Well, why can’t you talk to me? Is it illegal for you guys or something?”
“Wh- n-no, not- we don’t have laws like you do, but bad things happen to borrowers when humans find us.”
“Borrowers,” Noct murmured, as though to get a taste for the word, “so that’s what you call yourselves then?”
Prompto frowned, a part of him wincing at having given that up.
“It’s what I am.”
Noct nodded.
“A borrower,” he murmured once more, “so, you live here?
Prompto could only nod.
“In the walls?”
“I was,” Prompto replied hesitantly.
“You don’t have to leave,” Noct said, far too quickly.
“Will you stop me?”
It had slipped out before he could think better of it, yet once it was out, he could only wait for the reply, breath frozen in his lungs.
“What? No,” Noct said, the confusion in his voice throwing him for a loop, “you’re not like, a prisoner here or anything, it’s just… it must be really hard out there, being so small.”
Prompto tensed.
“We’ve survived under humans this long, we make do, we always do, not that it’s any of your business.”
“We? So.. you’re not alone? There’s more of you here? More borrowers?”
Prompto didn’t quite mask his flinch, knowing the silence that dragged between them gave away anything he might have tried to hide. His eyes fell to his feet, his gut roiling with far more than just the nerves of conversing with a bean.
“I’m sure there’s lots of us out there,” Prompto said, feeling his shoulders rise defensively. Even if, in all of his travels before he had settled here, he had never found any other borrowers.
“Wait, you don’t know?” Noct said, one eyebrow raising, “so you are alone then?”
“So?” Prompto shot back, bristling and tensed to take off if the human took it as an opportunity, “I can take care of myself.”
“I didn’t mean, uh,” Noct stumbled over his words, hands raising again only to freeze when Prompto flinched, “I wasn’t trying to say- I was just, um, aren’t you, you know, lonely?”
Prompto blinked, an ache in his chest he had long grown accustomed to flaring as the questions hit him point blanc. ‘ Yes ,’ he wanted to scream. He didn’t.
“Don’t you have any friends or family?”
It knocked the air out of him like a slap to the face.
Prompto couldn’t do this. He wasn’t about to spill his guts to some human he didn’t know. He had to get him off this subject somehow, what was he even doing here again?
Oh yeah, there was a bomb under the couch.
There was a bomb under the couch .
“There’s a bomb under the couch,” Prompto blurted.
If he had thought the silence had been absolute when he had spoken his first word to a bean, then it was nothing compared to the one that engulfed the apartment now. Noct had frozen, still like a giant statue, lips parted and eyes wide.
“What?” he barely huffed out.
Prompto bit his lip, hesitating for a brief moment, before forcing himself to keep speaking. Entirely too much, a voice in the back of his head began to scream.
“That’s why I- I came out here. Th-there were these two- two beans and they broke in and- and they put this box thing under the couch and I was like ‘shit that’s a bomb’ cause y’know I’d seen them watching TV and stuff and then they were going on about how it was ‘pressure-activated’ and would probably ‘blow out the entire floor’ so then I was like ninety nine percent sure and I knew the damn camera was gone so-”
“So there’s no way we would’ve known,” Noct hissed, glancing over his shoulder like he expected something to launch out and attack him. Prompto nodded shakily, taking a deep, shuddering breath before pushing himself clumsily to his feet, his numb legs grudgingly taking his weight.
He had done it. Noct knew about the bomb. Disaster averted. Now he could refocus on getting the last of his stuff and getting the hell out of here. When he glanced back up, he could see that Noct had whipped out his phone and was frantically typing out a message.
A decent distraction, or so he thought.
He had barely taken two steps back before Noct’s gaze flicked back up to pin him in place, a hardness in his eyes that made the hairs on the back of his neck raise.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m-” he swallowed hard, “-I warned you about the bomb, so you should probably leave, I’m going back to… back to where I came from now.”
“Are you kidding me?” Noct said in disbelief, “you can’t stay here dude! If that thing goes off it won’t matter if you’re hiding in the walls, you have to come with me.”
Prompto’s breath froze in his lungs.
“No, nope, no way.”
“We don’t have time to argue,” Noct urged, free hand flapping in front of him, “We have to go right now.”
“You go,” Prompto said, though it came out as more of a rasp, “I’ll find somewhere safe.”
“Little guy- look, I know you barely have any reason to trust me, but I need you to now, you can’t stay here.”
Prompto swallowed again, but his throat had gone dry. In a choice between potentially dying in a fiery blaze or being taken away by a bean to an unknown fate, the decision was obvious.
“I’m not going with you,” he said finally. He tensed to run, knowing the human wouldn’t like his answer.
Noct stared in silence for a long few moments, lips parted slightly in disbelief. Prompto forced himself to remain firm, not budging an inch, even as he felt his sweaty hands trembling against his sides.
Finally, Noct released a long sigh.
“Alright,” he replied, shifting to lean against the nearest chair at the kitchen table, “well I’m not leaving without you, so guess we’ll both just die.”
Prompto could do nothing but stare.
“Wh-what? No you- you have to leave.”
“Well, that’s a shame then,” Noct said airily.
“You have to go!”
“Not without you.”
“I’m not going to go with you.”
“And I’m not going to leave you here.”
Prompto’s lip curled in frustration, remarkably cutting clean through the fear as he outright glared up at the human. Noct was furiously tapping away at his phone again, which had been going off with chimes and ringtones like crazy for the last half minute.
He bit down on the choice words he had simmering in the back of his brain, his sense of self-preservation still in tact enough to not test his luck that much, and instead took the opportunity to examine the human more closely. As Noct had apparently done with him not even minutes before.
Despite knowing that Specs worked hard to keep his clothes immaculately clean, because gods knew Noct himself didn’t, his button up and jacket were rumpled and creased in ways that spoke of sleep. His dark, fluffy hair was mussed up in all directions and, when he caught glimpses of his deep blue eyes he could see they were rimmed with the faint shadow of exhaustion. Or perhaps just the drain of whatever school was.
The more he searched, the more he saw that was eerily familiar. And the more he saw that he hadn’t even realised was there.
Noct wasn’t as emotionless as Prompto might have once thought. Of course, he already knew that from sort of sharing a house with him, but right now, before his eyes, he could see the human’s giant shoulders trembling, gaze darting unerringly to the couch, then back to him, then off into the far wall, like he was trying to give him privacy.
He was scared. So why the hell wouldn’t he just fucking leave?
Prompto bristled, irritation whipping the adrenaline still thrumming through him up into a frenzy.
“I didn’t drag myself out here just for you to sit around and get blown up anyway,” he said slowly, trying to keep any and all traces of anger from his tone, still very aware of what he was talking to.
“Then come with me,” Noct said again, turning shockingly sincere eyes back on to him.
“I can’t,” Prompto breathed, leaning away, “I have no idea what you people will do to me.”
“I’m not going to do anything to you, I won’t even tell Specs or Gladio about you unless you want me to,” Noct said gently, still resolutely not moving any closer, “I just don’t want to leave you here with a bomb, I just- want to make sure you’re safe, please, you have to trust me.”
“Why the hell would I trust you?” Prompto said in disbelief, “after everything you and those other beans did, you trapped me under a bowl!”
“Yeah… we’re really sorry about that, we just, we didn’t know what else to do.”
“What else to do? Like not chase me around your house? Or half crush me to death? I still have no idea what you even wanted with me!”
“Nothing!” Noct said sharply, both hands shooting up in an attempt to placate again, “I- look I know how this looks, but we really, really weren’t going to do anything to you, I swear, we just wanted to talk, but when you ran we kind of… panicked.”
“You scared about ten years off my life!”
“I’m sorry,” Noct said carefully, genuinely, “it was a really dumb, stupid thing to do and we’re all idiots for it, even Specs, but I promise we’ll never do anything like that to you again.”
Prompto jolted, his brain catching up enough to tell him he was honestly telling a human off right now, a human that still had the power to end him if he wished. And yet, and he really couldn’t believe he was even thinking this, he was kind of starting to believe what he was saying.
Since the moment he had called out, Noct could have caught him, just as easily as Specs had a week before. As easily as Gladio had half crushed him against the couch. It would take no effort at all, even still resolutely stood beside the kitchen table, he knew intimately that a bean could cross that distance before he could even whip himself around and take two steps. Nevermind getting back out of reach within the wall.
But he hadn’t.
Clearly noticing the indecision in his expression, Noct carefully spoke up again.
“Listen, you’re scared of me, of humans, I totally get that, but you still came out here to warn me about the bomb, even though I’ve done nothing but make shit harder for you, you honestly think I’d repay that by doing something horrible to you?”
“I don’t even know you,” Prompto said.
“Then give me a chance.”
“I can’t trust you.”
“Let me prove to you that you can.”
Prompto bit his lip, glancing away when he couldn’t bare looking at the sheer sincerity in the bean’s eyes any longer.
“You’re a human,” he mumbled weakly.
“So? I’m just a bigger version of you right? I wouldn’t hurt another human, and I’m not going to hurt you.”
Prompto blinked. He had never really thought of it that way before. It made an odd amount of sense, even if his gut recoiled a little at the idea.
He thought hard, willing his mind to skate faster over his options. There weren’t many. In fact, there were really only two. He either risked the treacherous climb down the building, or he put his life quite literally in the hands of a human bean.
Both were shit.
“We can take it at whatever pace you want,” Noct said gently, his hands slowly lowering to fiddle awkwardly with the hem of his blazer, “I won’t do anything you don’t give me permission to do, and as soon as we get someplace safe you can- you can leave if you really want to, I won’t stop you.”
‘A human that truly wanted to harm him wouldn’t bother jumping through all these hoops to earn his trust,’ a voice in the back of his mind whispered. He forced his thoughts away, back to all the preparation he had already done for the journey ahead, and yet when he remembered that getting to the ground would only be the first step, that the many terrors of the city lay beyond that, his stomach shrank away to nothing.
Prompto swallowed tightly.
“If I agree… If! I’m still- still really not feeling this, but if I agree to- to go with you, I have some rules,” he said, straining to keep his voice as even as possible, “and if you so much as hint at breaking them, I’ll be gone before you know it.”
A smile split Noct’s face and Prompto tried very hard not to let that immediately worry him.
“Yes,” Noct said quickly, before clearing his throat and pulling himself back, “just name it, I won’t let you down.”
Prompto tried not to huff a laugh at that, forcing himself to keep talking before the more rational parts of his brain could catch up and start screaming at him.
“Ok, um,” he started intelligently, “ok, first off, no grabbing me, like, at all, no picking me up, no squishing me under your hands, just no touching me in general alright?”
“Of course,” Noct said with a firm nod.
His answering look must have been flatter than he had expected because a flush swiftly painted Noct’s cheeks.
“Alright yeah I- I get it, I’m sure the whole thing with Gladio must’ve been real unpleasant-”
Prompto felt his eyebrows rise into his unruly fringe.
“Very unpleasant,” Noct corrected with a grimace, “he’s like… super sweaty on a good day.”
Against all of his better judgement, Prompto actually snorted. He froze instantly, wide eyes latching with Noct’s own, equally startled ones. A small, decidedly shy smile pulled at the corner of the human’s lips.
“Second rule,” Prompto blurted, gaze flicking away. He pointedly ignored the strange, fluttery feeling in his chest.
“Second rule,” he repeated, shaking it away, “you don’t tell those other beans about me.”
“Beans?” Noct practically groaned. Prompto blinked up at him, half confused, half apprehensive.
“Wait,” Noct continued, “do you mean Ignis and Gladio? What are beans?”
“Humans?” Prompto answered, “human beans.”
Noct’s eyes widened, before a grin cracked over his face and he huffed a surprised laugh.
“It’s ‘being’, not ‘bean’, we’re human beings,” he explained.
Prompto couldn’t help but pout.
“Well it’s not what we call you,” he grumbled.
“Ok, ok,” Noct agreed, “beans is fine too, but you meant Iggy and Gladio then right?”
Prompto tensed.
“Yes,” he said carefully.
“Ok,” Noct said, pausing for a moment before he spoke again, “but… can you just, maybe think about at least telling Specs? He’s been really worried about you.”
“No,” Prompto said vehemently, shaking his head. He couldn’t- He had yelled at him, for offering him food of all things. It was a stupid thing to do, needlessly risky, and he shuddered at the thought of discovering just how the human had responded to his words.
“Alright, alright,” Noct soothed, “I promise, I won’t tell them, or anyone else, about you.”
Prompto searched his eyes for any sign of deception, but all he could find was that same startling sincerity staring back at him. Finally, he nodded.
“Third rule-” he stopped, swallowing hard but feeling nothing go down, before taking a breath and forcing his voice not to waver- “if I tell you to let me go, you let me go.”
“You’re not my prisoner,” Noct said without hesitation, “or my pet, or whatever horrible thing you’re thinking, I don’t want to keep you trapped or anything like that, if anything I want- I want to be... a friend, if you’ll let me.”
Prompto could only stare for a few moments that creeped past at an achingly slow pace. There was something fluttering in his chest again, something soft and excited that he hadn’t felt in years. He forced it aside, he could examine it later.
“I don’t… know about that,” he said warily, “humans and borrowers aren’t supposed to be friends.”
“Who says?”
“My common sense,” Prompto replied, he really had no idea how he wasn’t getting this.
Noct made a face eerily close to a pout.
“We’ll work on that.”
Prompto cocked an eyebrow, but bit back a retort. The reminder that there was still a goddamn bomb in the room with them making him realise just how much time they were wasting.
“Anything else?” Noct prodded.
Prompto thought hard, before slowly shaking his head. Noct nodded, biting his lip and averting his eyes for a moment, clearly mulling over something. Prompto waited, anxiously wondering what came next.
He knew going with the human implied he would have to be carried somehow, would have to be touched. He shuddered at the mere thought. He wasn’t sure if he could handle being grabbed in any way, the idea of a giant hand wrapping around him only making him sick to his stomach, even if it were as gentle as possible.
Prompto resisted the urge to groan out loud. Just what had he gotten himself into here?
He looked up when Noct softly cleared his throat. He still looked shifty, nervous like he wasn’t sure if his next words were worth saying at all. Finally, he seemed to steel himself, shifting his eyes up to solidly meet his, that same sincerity still swimming in the blue of them.
“Can I come over there?”
Prompto’s hands were shaking against his legs but he curled them into fists, squeezing his eyes shut as he took a deep breath. And gave a jerky nod.
Noct stepped forward at a glacial pace, so keenly aware that he wanted nothing more than to disappear, but the prolonging of it only made his stomach coil tighter and tighter. He couldn’t stop himself from taking a step back as he drew closer, breath jamming halfway into his lungs.
Noct stilled instantly, eyes widening at his obvious fear.
“It’s ok,” he said gently, not taking another step, “I won’t move til you say I can.”
“I’m fine,” he said tightly. Noct held himself back for another moment, before giving a tiny, hesitant nod and stepping forward again. Prompto kept himself still, forcing himself not to shy away this time as Noct took the last couple of strides across the kitchen and stopped a comfortable (at least to a human) distance before him.
An awkward silence stretched the remaining space between them, each simply staring at the other, taking in all the details of their opposite. Noct cleared his throat.
“Is this ok?”
No, not at all .
“I- I guess,” he replied, shifting anxiously from foot to foot, “um, n-now what?”
“We need to get out of here, I have a car on the way already, we just need to get down to- uh,” Noct cut himself off, clearly realising the same thing Prompto already had, “I, uh, I guess… I’m gonna need to carry you.”
Prompto exhaled harshly.
“Breaking the first rule already huh?”
“Sorry,” Noct offered weakly, “I um, I assume you don’t want to be seen, not to mention people would probably get real concerned if I was just walking around with a tiny person, so, I uh, I did have an idea but-”
“Just say it,” Prompto grit out.
“Well… I could put you in my school bag.”
Prompto felt his gut drop lower and lower with every word.
“Just for a little bit,” Noct said hurriedly, stopping his hands from shooting up into that by now familiar position just in the nick of time, a good thing to, because Prompto was fairly certain he would have bolted at the sudden movement, “it’s just so no one sees you, I swear I won’t even clasp it closed or anything, I’ll just lay the flap down.”
“I can’t-” Prompto started.
“I can’t think of anything better,” Noct said.
Prompto dropped his gaze, racking his brain for something, anything. Gods just something that wouldn’t see him crammed in the bottom of some bean’s giant bag.
“I can’t either,” he mumbled, “but what if- what if you don’t-”
“Can you look me in the eye for a second?”
The question was blurted out in an awkward rush and took him completely by surprise, yet he found himself blindly following before he could think. His eyes lifted to meet Noct’s, and for once he didn’t feel the immediate urge to curl into a ball and tremble beneath it. There was a warmth there now, or maybe it had always been there, and he just hadn’t been able to see it.
“I swear on my life, I am not going to keep you trapped, as soon as we’re somewhere safe, and alone, I’ll let you out again.”
Prompto stared up into those deep, dark eyes, searching their eerily familiar depths. Nothing but sincerity. He ground his teeth together, knowing he was truly out of options. He didn’t like this, gods he didn’t like this, but he knew they had already wasted far too much time and… and he wanted to believe him.
The realisation made him stiffen even further but he knew, down in the fluttering pit of his heart, that Noct was telling the truth.
“I need you to trust me.”
Prompto sucked in a long, slow breath, then released it. He thought of all the preparation he had already done, all of the supplies he had gathered, the last of his few belongings still sitting half packed in the wall, and finally, of the long, terrible climb all of that promised.
At long last, he gave a single, slow nod.
Noct released a soft breath, relief shining in his eyes.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” Prompto blurted, genuinely baffled.
“For trusting me?” Noct replied, cocking his head and mirroring his look of confusion, “for agreeing to come with me? You didn’t have to-”
“I don’t know where else to go,” Prompto said, surprised at his own admission. Something small and sad flitted over the human’s face, only for a moment, before his expression settled into a slightly hesitant, yet no less warm smile.
“Well, with any luck this can get sorted out quickly, then I can just sneak you back here with me.”
Prompto blinked, jolting as he realised he hadn’t even stopped to wonder if coming back here had even been an option, his gut lurching with the fleeting thought of never seeing his last physical memories of his parents again.
Noct must have mistaken his silence for another kind of discomfort, because he hurriedly continued.
“I mean, if you… wanted? I assume you like, live close to my apartment, in a sense, so your home would be here right?”
“Yeah,” Prompto agreed, “I’d like to come back, thanks.”
Noct nodded.
“The Crownsguard should get this cleared up quickly, I hope, but for sure, we’ll definitely come back.”
“Ok,” Prompto said, a part of him settling with that, before he remembered what exactly he had agreed to and felt his shoulders stiffen into a firm line once more, “so, what happens now?”
Noct made a face, taking a deep breath before speaking very gently again.
“Well, I need to pick you up so I can carry you over to my bag, and then so you can climb in,” Noct at least had the sensibility to look bashful at the anxious look that instantly swept across Prompto’s face, but forced himself to go on, “so… if I put my hand down on the bench can you climb into it?”
Prompto immediately began to shake his head. No. No way. There was no way he could- but hadn’t he already agreed? He was about to be carried around in a bag anyway, what was one short lift in the literal hand of a human between that? He was already so completely beyond every sane borrower’s boundaries with a bean right now that a part of him had all but given up trying to make him see sense.
Prompto swallowed tightly, squeezing his eyes shut for only a moment, before opening them again, looking up to meet the Noct’s eyes, and nodding as firmly as he could.
“Alright, I’ll- I’ll do it.”
Noct stared openly for a long moment, before that small, soft smile was back and he nodded once.
“We can take it slow, if you want to stop at any time we can.”
Prompto worried his lip.
“We kind of can’t,” he mumbled. They had wasted more than enough time as it was.
“Shit,” Noct hissed, “well yeah but-”
“Let’s just do it already,” Prompto said quickly. Before he damn well thought on how stupid this was again .
Noct hesitated a moment longer.
“Alright,” he said, and Prompto wasn’t sure who exactly he was reassuring, “alright, I’m gonna move my hand up now ok?”
Prompto nodded, gaze flicking down to the edge of the bench as the human’s giant hand carefully lifted into view, moving slowly to settle palm up on the cool marble as every instinct he had screamed at him to run.
“Um, you can just sit down if you’d like? It might be easier…” Noct said, awkwardly trailing off as another flush crawled up his cheeks.
“No,” Prompto said, surprised at his own guts, “I can stand.”
“If that’s what you want,” Noct said gently, keeping utterly still and patiently waiting.
Prompto took a deep breath, willing his heart to not beat right out of his chest, and slowly began to inch his way closer. If he thought about this too long he was bound to freak out so he forced it all aside to review (and likely regret) later, and focused instead on taking one tiny step after the other.
One of Noct’s fingers gave an involuntary twitch and Prompto flinched.
“It’s alright,” Noct breathed, forcing himself to be impressively still, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” Prompto replied on instinct, though it barely came out as a whimper. He shuffled a few steps closer before he stopped again, shivers racing across his skin at how close he was now. Too close, every taught muscle in his body screamed.
Noct gave a nod that was barely existent, just the slightest dip of his head, like he was terrified that any larger movements would break him. He was probably right.
I can’t do this. I can’t do this.
This close, he could hear the sheer size of the being before him. The thunder of air into a massive pair of lungs. The dull, quiet drum of a colossal heart. Even the grumble of a possibly empty stomach. It was getting towards the time when Specs usually turned up to start making dinner, the logical part of his mind said, yet he couldn’t stop the the more animal side of him shrieking with every primal instinct he had at the sound.
Even if he was ninety-nine percent sure that humans didn’t eat borrowers. Then again… he had no idea what exactly they did do with ones they caught either. Only that he had always been told that it was bad.
He shuddered at the mere thought. He couldn’t imagine a worse fate than that .
Oh gods what have I done?
“It’s alright,” Noct repeated softly.
But what if it wasn’t ?
Despite himself, he dragged his eyes upwards once more, feverishly searching one last time for something, anything that hinted at darker intentions in those deep, familiar eyes.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Noct murmured.
And for the first time, Prompto believed it.
Slowly, shakily, he stepped up and into the human’s palm, breath hitching at the slight give beneath his boots, and every other sound in the world seemed to vanish. Until it was just him and the living, breathing thing now cradling his entire life in a single hand.
He didn’t dare look up, didn’t want to see what kind of expression the human was making, but he could feel his intelligent gaze prickling against his skin. Not even in a malicious way, it was simply the discomfort of being closely watched as he tried to brace himself securely on the strange, yielding floor. His trembling legs clearly didn’t agree with it, because one misplaced step quickly made him stumble.
His hand shot out without thinking to brace against the side of a giant thumb, but Noct didn’t seem to mind. The reminder of the sheer disparity in their sizes rose up once again to kick him square in the gut, sending all the air ‘whooshing’ out of his lungs.
His fully stretched hand didn’t even cover the pad of one of Noct’s digits.
Warmth radiated from his skin, he could feel it muted through his clothes, but it was like a soldering iron pressed to his flesh where his hand met the human’s. His legs shook but he forced himself to stay upright, even if it meant he had to lean more of his weight on Noct’s thumb, he refused to just collapse like a boneless doll in his hand.
He shuddered as he felt the skin and bone beneath him shift, tensing testingly. He didn’t let himself fall though.
“Can I… can I lift my hand? Can you stay balanced?” Noct said carefully, patiently waiting for him to regain control of his voice.
“Y-yeah,” he breathed, bracing for the first sign of movement. To his credit Noct was exceedingly gentle, but he still flinched at the first small lurch, the twitch of the giant fingers around him as they curled slightly inwards, like a barricade. Though they felt far more like a cage.
Slowly, Noct raised his hand, and him by extension. The bench sunk away below him, any last chances of making it back into the safety of the walls along with it.
For one moment that stretched into a small eternity, there was nothing but the strange, sort-of-but-not-quite, weightlessness, the hammering of his tiny heart in his chest, and he could swear he could feel the faint thrums of Noct’s far larger one through the flesh beneath his feet.
“Woah,” Noct mumbled faintly.
“What?” Prompto squeaked, the hairs on the back of his neck sparking up again when he realised he was being held almost at eye level with him.
“Nothing,” Noct said quickly, before remembering himself and softening his voice again, “it’s just- you’re so-”
‘Tiny?’ Prompto thought miserably.
“-you’re heavier than I was expecting.”
Prompto blinked in surprise.
“Oh?” he said, wincing at the slight accusatory edge it held.
Noct opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again, clearly thinking better of it. Or perhaps just realising they didn’t have the time for awkward chatter.
“Um, are you alright?” Noct asked instead.
“I th-think?” Prompto replied.
Noct gave a tiny nod of understanding, gaze never straying from him. He seemed to realise that he was effectively staring and swallowed loudly, attempting poorly to not look as curious as he clearly was.
“Alright,” Noct said softly, “alright, uh, I’m just going to grab my bag ok? Or I can put you on the table if you want and, um, you can climb in yourself if you’d prefer-”
“Just do it,” Prompto cut him off, “there’s no time.”
And before he lost what last bit of nerve he had, he didn’t voice, but he had the feeling Noct got it anyway. Noct looked uncertain for a long moment, before nodding once.
“Ok, right, I’ll- uh, I’ll be as gentle as I can.”
Prompto nodded dimly, bracing himself against his thumb as the human smoothly turned and strode over to collect his school bag from where he had dumped it on the coffee table earlier. The trip was short, crossing a distance in seconds what would have taken him five minutes at least including the climbing and the size difference, yet it still felt like a small eternity before Noct came to a stop, shifting the hand holding him aside as he stooped.
Prompto forced himself to stay quiet as Noct hurriedly dug through the bag, pulling out an almost astounding amount of crumpled papers, loose pens and even a few empty lolly wrappers that he had the sneaking suspicion Specs had no idea about.
“Sorry,” Noct mumbled, an embarrassed flush painting his cheeks, “don’t really clean this thing out much.”
“S’long as I’m not sitting in something mouldy.”
“What? Nah I wouldn’t-” he cut himself off and seemed to peer intently back into the bag for a few moments, before flashing a grin back at him, “-nope, we’re safe.”
“I mean, we’re not, that’s kind of the whole point here.”
“Oh right!”
Prompto tried to suppress a smile, he really did, but he found he couldn’t as Noct fumbled to clear out as much as he could for him, his flush climbing down his neck. It was… oddly endearing, in a sense.
Finally, Noct seemed satisfied that he had gotten rid of enough, tugging the satchel up by the flap so that he could cautiously lean forward to peer inside.
“Um, where do you want to sit?” He asked awkwardly.
Prompto bit down on the instinctive reply he wanted to give. He quickly scanned over the mostly empty depths of the bag, all that remained inside were a couple of thin workbooks pushed to the side, a small pencil case and what he assumed was a USB stick. Those were the things that went into computers right?
He frowned, wondering if there was a risk of getting crushed by the books or the case. He had no idea how rough this ride would even be, how long it would take, if he would even be released at the end . He shook that train of thought away, he had made his decision now, no going back.
His eyes moved to the walls of the bag and he perked up.
“Can you put me in one of the side pockets there?” He said, pointing to the larger one, “so I don’t get crushed by anything.”
“Oh sure,” Noct replied, carefully beginning to maneuver him closer before pausing again, “I can take the rest of this stuff out if you think you could get hurt though.”
Prompto shook his head.
“It should be fine, I’m more worried about getting stuck under something if I sat in the bottom there, plus I can uh, hide easier in there if- if anyone else looks inside.”
“Right,” Noct agreed, “but I promise, I won’t let anyone else see you.”
Prompto sucked in a slow breath, before nodding. He believed it, he repeated to himself.
“Alright, alright yeah you can- you can lower me in now.”
Noct hesitated for just a moment longer, before slowly, achingly slowly, beginning to move him down into the yawning pit below.
“If you tell me to stop I will,” Noct reminded.
“It’s fine,” Prompto said, wincing at how squeaky it sounded. He focused instead on moving to crouch more in the bean’s palm, shifting his weight to keep his balance as the giant hand tilted carefully to lower into the bag.
Noct held him gingerly near the opening to the pocket, keeping still and patiently waiting as he clambered in at his own pace, having to yank his pin out and carry it when it snagged in the fabric. He tried not to let the anxiety show across his face as he slid his legs down until his boots hit the seam at the bottom, realising with a lurch of his gut that it almost swallowed him entirely. Only his shoulders and his head still poked out the top when he was standing, and he kept a death grip on the edge as he turned to stare questioningly back up at the human, wondering what exactly came next.
“Are you alright?” Noct said worriedly.
“Yeah, I think,” Prompto answered honestly, testing his weight against the fabric floor and finding it far more sturdy than he had expected, “I’m ready to go if you are.”
“Ok, you’re doing really good bud-” Prompto jolted a little at the endearment, but Noct didn’t seem to notice, busy furiously tapping at his phone (it almost hadn’t stopped ringing since he had sent off that first message), meeting his eyes again when he was apparently done, “-can I close the flap? I won’t buckle it or anything, but if you want it open I can leave it, but you’ll have to duck down in the-”
“It’s fine,” Prompto cut in, feeling like he actually meant it a bit more this time, “let’s just go, the sooner this is over the better.”
“Alright,” Noct said with a nod, “I’ll check up with you if I get the chance, but if not then I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can.”
“Ok,” Prompto agreed a little shakily.
“Alright,” Noct said again, and Prompto wondered who exactly he was reassuring, before slowly shifting the flap of the satchel back over the opening, “let’s do this.”
Prompto ducked down completely into the pocket as the darkness swallowed him, reclining down along the seam with his pin pressed cooly down his side, folding his arms over his middle and forcing himself to get comfortable. The inside of the pocket was covered in an odd, silky material, making it far more comfortable than he had been expecting. It didn’t even smell as bad as he was expecting, all things considered, a little musty but he was used to that living in the walls. The fabric curved to his form, reminding him a bit of the hammock his father had made out of spare scraps and a pair of old elastic bands.
He used to love swinging in that thing with him, this one was decidedly less enjoyable. Especially when the bag shook lightly around him and his stomach lurched with weightlessness as he was lifted once again. He could feel the shudder of every step Noct took, vibrating up through his spine.
He heard the familiar sound of the front door opening, then closing, the keys jingling in the lock like a death toll, louder than he had ever been used to, all overlaid with the frenzied pounding of his own heart.
The final door had closed on everything he knew to be safe.
Prompto hugged his middle tighter in the dim light of the bag, straining not to focus on the strange rocking motion as Noct walked, afraid he’d grow nauseous before too long. He could hear the muffled chime of the elevator as it arrived, having journeyed far enough once to poke his head into the colossal shaft and peer down into the yawning depths below. An adventure he had only been on once and then never went near it again.
A slow, nervous sigh slipped from the bean carrying him as they finally cleared the immediate danger zone.
It was awkwardly quiet, but the hum of the mechanics around them made it bearable. Prompto blarily wondered if he should attempt a light nap. He was emotionally and physically exhausted, it was warm and oddly comfortable in the pocket, but the thought of being so vulnerable around a bean had him instantly wide awake again.
“Do you have a name?” Noct said suddenly, startling him even as he kept his voice only loud enough for him to hear. There must have been no one else in here with them.
“You didn’t answer last week, which I totally get, but I can’t just keep calling you little guy, so?”
Prompto worried his lip, thinking hard. Noct must have mistaken his silence for not wishing to answer because he hurriedly continued.
“It’s ok, you- you don’t have to tell me, I’m not going to be able to speak to you while I’m in the car, so just hang tight, I’ll get you out of there as soon as I can.”
“It’s Prompto.”
Noct didn’t answer, and Prompto began to wonder if he had heard him. He had only just opened his mouth to repeat himself when he did speak.
“What?” He said slowly.
“My name,” Prompto said hesitantly, “my name is Prompto.”
Noct went quiet again for a few long moments. The elevator chimed as it reached the ground floor, but just before the doors could open-
“I’m Noctis, but you can call me Noct,” he offered gently back, then, “block your ears, I’m gonna pull the fire alarm.”
Prompto blinked, his mind only just catching up in time to clap his hands over his ears before the shrill shriek of the alarm went up. Clever, if not at all pleasant. There would, hopefully, be no one at risk of the bomb now if it still went off.
Noct seemed to pick up the pace once that was done, if the increase in the swaying was anything to go by. He could tell he was still trying to be as steady as possible, but there was a desperation to his strides now that he imagined he had been stamping down until now.
He wondered just how long Noct had been forcing down his own panic over the very real threat to both of their lives. It made his stomach twist with guilt for making him wait so long to agree to go while a voice in the back of his head hissed that that had been his own stupid choice. Now, his brain reminded helpfully, for better or worse, he was at the complete mercy of this bean.
Prompto squeezed his eyes shut and struggled not to cry out like he wanted to, his mind playing an endless loop of a single question: ‘why the hell did I do this?’. It wasn’t even like the human’s life was his responsibility, nor that he should have even cared what happened to him.
And yet… Noct had refused to leave without him, and hadn’t moved to even approach him without his express permission, even as a literal bomb had ticked away mere meters away.
Prompto sucked in a slow breath, trying in vain to calm the maelstrom in his chest. If Noct had wanted to harm him, he wouldn’t have wasted time talking. He could have easily crossed the distance before he had even had a chance to reach the loose tile and just snatched him up.
But he hadn’t.
Prompto released the air again in a soft rush.
Maybe… maybe this wouldn’t end in disaster.